Your Travel Companion Needs Help

The year 2018 saw over 2000 million domestic trips within the United States and over 240 million passengers traveling just by air to and from the country. In 2017, a survey found over 21% of the respondents 18 years and older travel for business atleast once a month while 11% travel for leisure atleast once a month and a whopping 41% travel for leisure atleast once in six months. Now, what do all of the “#wanderlust” and “#businessgoals” folks have in common. The need for a luggage bag. As George Carlin said, “the meaning of life is to find a place to put your stuff”.

For all kinds of travel, one needs luggage. So now, lets take a second to understand where people buy their luggage from. In 2018, 23% of all Apparel and Accessories Category digital purchases are towards luggage. The last stat that we talk about today is the gigantic size of the luggage industry. With approximately $2.7 BN worth of retail sales in 2017, the luggage industry is expected is expected to grow at 7.7%. The only takeaway from this ramble – People are traveling now more than ever, and they need bags for their stuff, and a huge portion of the buying is happening online. Hence, for companies to effectively compete against each other for market share, they need to simplify the process for the consumer.

This week, I’m looking at the website of Arlo Skye – the UI/UX, the messaging and other elements that stand out or need work. Arlo Skye was founded by Louis Vitton and Tumi alums in 2016. Simplistic and elegant, the bags start at $450. The price of “a place for your stuff” - the meaning of life.

Let me say that, I find the website functional. It’s easy to navigate and the aesthetics are clean. However, I do feel that, the purchase touch points could do with some work.

Aesthetics and Personality:

The Desktop Homepage

• Get the opening page right – You land up on this picture because you see the ad while looking for travel accessories/luggage, but you don’t even see the carry ons. Yes, consumers aren’t stupid, they’ll probably get that it doesn’t refer to clothes, but, wouldn’t one rather that they don’t have to. I mean, the screen on the mobile is perfect. Why not employ the same principle on the desktop.

Mobile Homepage

• Lot of white space, big pictures and minimal text give the site an elegant yet stylish look. And yet, it doesn’t just stop with the pictures. The homepage also has a video commercial. It serves the advantage of engaging with the audience and understand how they can improve the engagement piece on the website. The site could use scenic travel pictures to increase the appeal so it could be better associated with a lifestyle accessory.

Navigation and Messaging:

• The site includes short copy for their product line. It gives out just enough information to create intrigue and explore the products. Clicking on one of the images leads you to the Design page, instead of more information about the product. Moreover, the second image doesn’t lead you anywhere. This needs to be modified to create a more consistent experience.

• The website has a lot of menus in the header. While I do feel that two can be removed, but that’s a personal opinion. I strongly believe that the Press and Refer a Friend could be included in the contact us or the About Us page, to reduce the clutter on the header.

• I especially like the last bit of the homepage. The last picture leads you to the product display page.

Functionality and Conversion:

• The compare menu needs most amount of re-work. The idea of comparison is that you can stack up the products against each other and check certain criteria. We all know a good compare system – Amazon’s the most effective and functional. However, the Compare page on the website might as well just be a strand of hair on the head of a bald man. Just the one tiny strand.

Compare Page

• The product info page contains all the necessary information, and is compartmentalized appropriately. The checkout process is simple and not tedious at all. However, the one thing I believe needs to be corrected is the information below the fold needs to be moved above it, so the recommendations are in line of sight.

Overall, the Arlo Skye website is a decent site and could definitely do with an uplift in aesthetic(with better pictures) and conversion(better navigation and a more effective compare page). The site lacks an “oomph” factor. Traveling is considered an experience, regardless of the reason. For a luxury brand that caters to the affluent who travel often and in style, Arlo Skye’s website is slightly underwhelming. Furthermore, considering that they have an innovative product selection, the website looks like a regular wordpress based site with run of the mill functionality.